Royal Bank of Canada Raises Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 26.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,187 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,833 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Popular were worth $26,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Popular in the 4th quarter worth about $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after buying an additional 312,984 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Popular by 2,752.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares during the period. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension bought a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,841,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Luisa Ferre sold 3,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.42, for a total value of $593,796.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,781,565.52. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,761 shares of company stock valued at $1,173,483. 2.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BPOP has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Popular from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $198.00 price target (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $185.25.

Popular Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $175.79 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $164.37 and its 200 day moving average is $148.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.61. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.74 and a 12 month high of $179.00.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.63. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $878.41 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.72 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Popular’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Popular Company Profile

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.